musical musings from the frozen north:
torontopia, mont royal city and kawartha kottages

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Sam Patch – Yeah You, and I

Sam Patch – Yeah You, and I (Dep)

Tim Kingsbury is the last member of Arcade Fire—other than the
two founders—to put out a solo record. “I never meant to bury it / But I was
set in my ways … Is it too late to start again?” he asks on the opening track,
“Oversight.” The answer is clear: of course not.

His colleagues Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry and Jeremy Gara
have all explored more experimental and abstract music in their solo projects;
Will Butler (younger brother of co-bandleader Win Butler) put out a loose and
raw rock’n’roll record (and an even looser and more raw live album immediately
afterwards). All of them except Neufeld are part of a cover band on the side,
Phi Slamma Jamma, playing songs by the Everly Brothers, Jonathan Richman, Neil
Young, Devo, CCR, Prince and others. It’s that band’s set lists that, in
retrospect, inform Sam Patch: catchy pop songs over standard rock’n’roll
chords.

But Sam Patch often takes a more esoteric bent, with sci-fi
synths slowly modulating over pulsing 4/4 rhythms on acoustic and bass guitar,
while drummer Jeremy Gara syncopates underneath: it all answers the never-posed
question about what a collaboration between Tom Petty and Stereolab might sound
like. Kingsbury’s choice of synth sounds is gloriously kaleidoscopic, and he
scores points with this reviewer for repurposing the sound of Rough Trade’s “Crimes
of Passion” here on “Listening.” Basia Bulat plays bass and provides backing
vocals, facilitating Kingsbury’s taste for rich harmonies. Like many Guelph
indie rock kids of the ’90s—such as his peer Jim Guthrie—Kingsbury held
Chicago’s avant-rock scene of that time in high regard, and so here he seeks
out John McEntire and Doug McCombs of Tortoise for assistance on two
tracks.

Kingsbury is not a mumbling sideman who finally musters enough
courage to step to centre stage: he was fronting his own band (featuring
Richard Reed Parry) back in 2002 when he was first spotted by Win Butler, and
here he proves to be an engaging vocalist, particularly on the sombre closing
track, “Up All Night.”

There’s a new Arcade Fire record expected this spring, which is
naturally going to overshadow Kingsbury’s long-overdue debut. Comparisons are
inevitable, and so it boils down to this: Sam Patch has every bit the melodic
and textural strength of Arcade Fire, without ever sounding claustrophobic and
minus the tense dramatics (with the exception of the fuzzed-out rocker
“Listening,” which provides the sole hint of menace here; meanwhile, “Never
Meant No Harm” nods to the Caribbean rhythms of Reflektor). Tim Kingsbury has always been the most underrated,
invisible member of Arcade Fire; that perception ends right now. And with eight
songs clocking in at 35 minutes, Sam Patch leaves us wanting more—much more.